Aruba, St.Thomas, St.Maartin, Curacao, Puerto Rico

[Luckyfishrag]

I am going to visit all these places on a cruise. Was wondering if any of you have done some diving in these locations and can advise me of a good dive op to hire. Looking for a great experience, not too into the cattle boat thing if I can avoid it. Also wondering of the best dive location that you have been to at any of these stops.
Thanks,
Lucky
P.S. We will be staying in Puerto Rico for 3 days.... need a nice play to stay perferrably on the beach and was wondering about going diving on the first day... any ideas?

 

[smokey braden]

dear lucky,
i was in aruba over spring break.
i dove with clive.
http://www.divearuba.com/
contact him and he might be what you're looking for.
when you get back, tell us of your trip.
regards,
smokey

 

[RICHinNC]

On St. Thomas check out Chris Sawyer's operation. Top quality. Ask to do the trenches and swim throughs. He also has a website...plus within a 5 minute equipment drag of Chris'sd pier is Coki beach...a not too bad shore dive.

 

[michaelp68]

Lucky, I second what Smokey said about Aruba. Contact Clive from Dive Aruba. It's a great operation and is NOT a cattle experience.

Enjoy your trip.

 

[KidK9]

Just read my sig!

 

[WaterWayne]

...We will be staying in Puerto Rico for 3 days.... need a nice play to stay perferrably on the beach and was wondering about going diving on the first day... any ideas?

Regarding PR, since you have 3 days, I highly recommend that you check out diving off Rincon, on the west coast of PR. I've stayed at TropicCabanas twice and thoroughly enjoyed their small cabanas, 1/2 block from the water. They also have a larger house right on the water (sleeps 6-8 at least, I think.) For diving, try Taino Divers, who can take you to Desecheo Island for a day trip or Mona Island for a 2,3-day trip in season. Rincon itself is about 2 hrs' drive and a world away from San Juan and the cattle boat world. Economy rental cars are available from outside Old San Juan itself, as no car agencies are located in those narrow, traffic-constricted streets.

 

[Luckyfishrag]

Regarding PR, since you have 3 days, I highly recommend that you check out diving off Rincon, on the west coast of PR. I've stayed at TropicCabanas twice and thoroughly enjoyed their small cabanas, 1/2 block from the water. They also have a larger house right on the water (sleeps 6-8 at least, I think.) For diving, try Taino Divers, who can take you to Desecheo Island for a day trip or Mona Island for a 2,3-day trip in season. Rincon itself is about 2 hrs' drive and a world away from San Juan and the cattle boat world. Economy rental cars are available from outside Old San Juan itself, as no car agencies are located in those narrow, traffic-constricted streets.

I was thinking of staying in Rincon too. Glad that you told me that! I will look up Taino Divers!
Lucky

 

[snturner]

I dove with Clive in Aruba about a year ago with my wife. We did a night dive. This was my wife's first night dive. Clive did come to pick us up at the cruise ship, but when he arrived he was in a beat-up van. He opened the door for us and it fall of the hinges. No problem. He slid i back on. When he got in he couldn't get the van started. He had to ask my wife to exit the van so he could lift the seat to giggle the battery cable. The van then started. My wife and I were getting a little worried at this point. He told us he had to drive to his shop to get his equipment and weights for us. He was a very nice person.

We arrived at the dive shop which was a run down shed type building behind what appeared to be a small resort. Now I am really worried and think we should just cancel the trip. While Clive was inside my wife turned to me and said "What did you get us into?". I told her it looked like a good place on the internet. We both laughed. Clive's politeness kept me going. As we drove to the boat dock my wife leaned over to me and said " I wonder what this boat is going to look like?" I just about bust out laughing. We arrived at the dock to see the boat which to our amazement looked brand new. It looked like it was set-up for fishing and diving. Very nice boat. This made me feel better. We got on the boat just as the sun was going down. When we arrived at the dive site Clive explained that we would be diving on a plane that had been sunk by the government. The plane he explained was in thirty feet of water. Then he went on to say that a storm had moved the plane to 60 feet of water. My wife's turns to look at me for approval. I see her worried look and instruct her to follow Clive and that I would stay right behind her and not let her out of my sight. Clive agreed that this would not be a problem I learned later that she was a little more scared then I thought. . He then went on to say that another storm had moved the plane to 80 feet. I was a little concerned that Clive never asked us if we where comfortable with this depth. I had no problem with it but I later found out my wife was worried and didn't say anything. I get my gear on first and jump in. I let go of my weight belt and it falls off. DAMN. I shine my light to the bottom about 35 feet down. I see the belt and ask Clive to retrieve it for me. He instructed me that I must have not put the weight belt on correctly. I assured him that I knew how to clip the built on but the belt clip was not snug enough. He jumped in and retrieved the belt. I put it on in the water and started the dive. When we got to plane at 82 feet Clive went inside the plane and straight down the middle. My wife not wanting to lose him followed him in. I followed her knowing she was scared to death. The dive ended without incident. I am not telling you this to knock down Clive's dive operation but to just let you know what my experiences was. Clive was very nice and I had a great time. My wife did not. I was shocked that the dive plan was not accurate and informative. Especially if there was a new diver. I found out later that if my wife would have know the plane was at 82 feet and that we where going inside she would have not gotten in the water. She told me later that when he said the plane was at 80 feet it made her a little worried. Then when we went through the plane she was scared to death but followed Clive so she wouldn't get lost.

 

[diveborg]

Of the islands you are visiting on Adventure of the Seas I think Curacao has the best diving, with St. Thomas second.

I also have gone with www.divearuba.com while on a cruise. I didn't have anyproblems. They did pick up at the cruise dock. I would consider diving with them again. Did a 2 tank morning dive then did an afternoon dive with pelican adventures because I wanted to see that famous wreck, the Antilla. I wasn't very impressed with the dive, but the operator was pretty good. The diving over all in Aruba was OK, but just OK. Mermaid sport divers and Aruba fly'n dive are 2 other operators to contact for diving in Aruba

Curacao has much better diving, IMHO, than Aruba. I went with caribseasports.com/ Definitely recommend this operator.

In St. Thomas I did a shore dive at coki beach with www.cokidive.com The diving was better than Aruba, but not as good as Curacao.

I wouldn't recommend diving in St. Maarten unless the ocean was dead flat calm, and even then I wouldn't expect much.

 

[grumpygrouper]

Hi

I have dove Aruba, Curacao(8 weeks ago), Puerto Rico and St Maartans and consider Curacao the best. I also dove with Clive in Aruba his dive shop is out of his house now. But anytime you can dive, no matter where it is at, is a good time.